LIPID MAPS® Structure Database (LMSD)

The LIPID MAPS® Structure Database (LMSD) is a relational database encompassing structures and annotations of biologically relevant lipids. As of today, LMSD contains 48759 unique lipid structures, making it the largest public lipid-only database in the world.

Structures of lipids in the database come from several sources: (i) LIPID MAPS® Consortium's core laboratories and partners; (ii) lipids identified by LIPID MAPS® experiments; (iii) biologically relevant lipids manually curated from LIPID BANK, LIPIDAT, Lipid Library, Cyberlipids, ChEBI and other public sources; (iv) novel lipids submitted to peer-reviewed journals; (v) computationally generated structures for appropriate classes.

All the lipid structures in LMSD adhere to the structure drawing rules proposed by the LIPID MAPS® consortium and are curated according to our protocols. All lipids in the LMSD have been classified using the LIPID MAPS® Lipid Classification System. Each lipid structure has been assigned a LIPID MAPS® ID (LM_ID). In addition to a classification-based retrieval of lipids, users can search LMSD using either text-based or structure-based search options.

Deposit new lipid structures – Submit novel lipid structures and annotations for addition to LMSD. Questions regarding the submission of structures should be submitted via our Contact page.

Lipid Category Curated Computationally-generated All
Fatty Acyls [FA] 8971 1898 10869
Glycerolipids [GL] 367 7379 7746
Glycerophospholipids [GP] 1773 8328 10101
Sphingolipids [SP] 1823 3168 4991
Sterol Lipids [ST] 3973 0 3973
Prenol Lipids [PR] 2547 0 2547
Saccharolipids [SL] 55 1294 1349
Polyketides [PK] 7183 0 7183
TOTAL 26692 22067 48759
Number of structures per lipid category

Change log

At the point of curation, a new structure and associated metadata will receive a time/date stamp held in the database. This is displayed on the webpage as “created at”, though only date is displayed. The curation interface enables changes to metadata and/or structure and these are time/date stamped and displayed on the webpage as “updated at”. Changes to lipid structures are rare (~1%) resulting from errors or adding chirality to an existing structure where new evidence is found.

References

LMSD: LIPID MAPS® structure databas, Sud M, Fahy E, Cotter D, Brown A, Dennis EA, Glass CK, Merrill AH Jr, Murphy RC, Raetz CR, Russell DW, Subramaniam S., Nucleic Acids Research, 2007, 35: p. D527-32., DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkl838 , PMID: 17098933
LIPID MAPS® online tools for lipid research, Fahy E, Sud M, Cotter D & Subramaniam S., Nucleic Acids Research, 2007, 35: p. W606-12., DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkm324 , PMID: 17584797
LIPID MAPS: update to databases and tools for the lipidomics community, Conroy MJ, Andrews RM, Andrews S, Cockayne L, Dennis, EA, Fahy E, Gaud C, Griffiths WJ, Jukes G, Kolchin M, Mendivelso K, Lopez-Clavijo AF, Ready C, Subramaniam S, O'Donnell, VB, Nucleic Acids Research, 2023, DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkad896 , PMID: 37855672